scandasia singapore - december 2012

Hyper Island in Singapore

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ScandAsia is the only magazine that covers all the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish residents in Singapore.

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Opinion

I once carried out research in Al Samra, a big well-off village of mostly market traders, situated in the desert 40 kilometers from Khartoum, Sudan. One day I was invited or requested for lunch by the leadership, a group of three distinguished old men. We talked about how this community

dealt with social- and family problems. Then I asked them: “But what do you do in this land of pride and honor if a family simply have no money, no means to buy cloth and the most basic foodstuff for the children”. The chairman answered: “We will discuss the situation openly, only us three, no other people, men or women or even children present. If the reason is for example serious illness or very bad luck we will help. From time to time we collect tithe from the well-off families. Now we will take some of this money, put them in a small pocket of cotton, and in the middle of the night one of us will place the money under the door to the house in trouble and give a little push so that the cotton pocket will land well inside. Then, when the family find the money next morning, the pocket is received as a blessing from Allah our Lord”. I could only accept the explanation but promised myself to check on the reality of this custom around where my work took me. I then realized that it was in fact a general practice and that it worked in all closely knitted communities but not much in Khartoum.

Allah donated, period?Then you can leave the case face value if you wish: Allah donated, period, but: Shortly before my departure from Sudan the three stoic old men invited me for lunch again. There I confessed my controlling their secret ‘money under the door’ method. They laughed with their faces all wrinkles. Then they ‘confessed’ too. The earthly rationale behind the method is of course to avoid trouble and fighting in the community; if you have an overdog (the donator) and an underdog (the receiver) and the handover of money is taking place in public, “you sow the seeds of hatred in the receiver’s hart, the hatred of the debt of gratitude. Furthermore the risk is that you make a haughty character out of the donator. A person believing so much in his own goodness, that he cannot see his own faults”. In his book: ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’ George Orwell put it this way: “A man receiving charity practically always hates his benefactor – it is a fixed characteristic of human nature…”

Handbooks for decent livingBoth in the Bible and in the Koran there are so many wise commandments regarding how to live a fruitful life in decency - if you have a wish so to do of course - and both books are using both carrot and stick in order to get us to act accordingly. Matthew 6.1.2. is saying that if you publish your good deeds in the Synagogue and in the street you have got your reward already and can expect nothing more from the Almighty. This said and quoted it is up to every one of us to decide how we want to handle our cross-cultural Giving here in Asia, not much doubt about the need. Cash transfer is quite easy, but for example transfer of technology and equipment cannot be done in anonymity, I suppose. I have seen this problem handled in Africa by engaging the excellent principle of joint venture aid.

May your God be with you.

Christmas – Charity“But when you give to the poor or the needy, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3).This instruction can be read both the Bible and in the Koran (about Zakat -tithe).

Flemming Winther Nielsen is Senior Lecturer (retired) DSH. DK. M.Sc.soc. (Aalborg University).

The author has working and research experience from the Sudan, Zambia, Portugal and Thailand.

See also: Winther, Flemming (1986): ‘ALLAH’S VEJ - og vores’. Odense Universitetsbibliotek.

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CONTENTS DECEMBER 2012

8 Past Events

11 News Brief

14 Hyper Island in Singapore Interview with Christina Andersson, Managing Director of Swedish learning institute Hyper Island By Maria Rita Skog

16 Friendship, freedom and trade Report from the 9th ASEM Meeting in Vientiane, Laos By Kim Birkkjaer Lund

17 Interview with the Danish Prime Minister By Kim Birkkjaer Lund

18 Promoting Norwegian Seafood in Asia Interview with Christian Chramer, Regional Head of Norwegian Seafood Council By Joakim Persson

20 Jan Lund in the centre of Asia Interview with Jan Lund, Danish journalist and vice president of Danish Business Association Singapore (DBAS) By Kim Birkkjaer Lund

22 How do you celebrate Christmas in Asia? Seven prominent Scandinavians share their plans for Christmas this year

24 Let’s make Christmas Hearts together By Gregers Moller

25 A piece of Scandinavia in Singapore Scandinavian Shoppe’s new location By Ulrika Forssel

26 Sudoku & Rice Porridge(Risengrød) recipe By Gregers Moller

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Coming Events

Thai Transience exhibitionDate: 26 October 2012 – 6 January 2013Location: Singapore Art Museum

The exhibition showcases paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, videos and performances by leading Thai artists. Inspiration behind these pieces are drawn from traditional artefacts and art objects from local museums and religious sites within Thailand, showing how Thai contemporary artists continue to create new expressions responding to their heritage and faith. A selection of these artefacts will be featured alongside new contemporary artworks in this exhibition. Thai Tran-sience is part of the Thai CulturalFest organised by the National Heritage Board.For more information, visit www.singaporeartmuseum.sg

NBAS’s Annual Seafood Dinner 2013Date: 8 March 2013Location: Raffles City Convention Centre, Fairmont BallroomFee: Member: SGD 3,000 Non-member: N/A

The annual Norwegian seafood dinner will be held for the Norwegian Business Association (Singapore) members in March 2013. It’s SGD 3,000 per person. Invitations will be sent out in January 2013.For more information, visit www.nbas.org.sg

PAssionArts Singing Festival Date: 3 November - 16 December 2012

From 3 November - 16 December 2012, there are mass sing-along sessions held at 15 locations across Singapore. Organ-ised by the Community Arts and Culture Clubs in various constituencies in Singapore, the singing festival features local ce-lebrities who are amongst residents to belt out songs after songs with participating residents. With a song list that includes some of the most popular songs from 1960s to current hit songs as our favourite Singapore songs, the PAssionArts Singing Festival 2012 will bring the joy of singing right into the heart of Singapore.For more information, visit www.passionarts.sg

Will you donatea bag of candy?Date: 17 December 2012

Swedish Women Education Association (SWEA) in Singapore is arranging a Christ-mas party for 200 homeless people in Singa-pore. SWEA will be in charge of the “fishing pond” (approximately 130 bags of candy), decorations and ‘santas little helpers’ figu-rines. SWEA’s members and 2 ‘santas help-ers’ will be present throughout the evening. If you would like to take part and make a child happy, you can donate a bag of candy which costs SGD 4 each. For more information, contact www.swea.org/singapore

Crazy Christmas 2012Date: 28 November – 9 December 2012Location: Esplanade Theatre

Starring Selena Tan, Adrian Pang, George Chan, Robin Goh, Karen Tan, Judee Tan, Michaela Therese, Vocaluptuous, Hossan Leong and Ku-mar, Crazy Christmas is an annual event featur-ing a big band and a bevy of dancing girls. This year’s Crazy Christmas features “Silver screen meets silver bells”. The event gets bigger and brighter than the previous years as the perform-ers include Singapore’s finest entertainers to-gether with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and good ole’ Charlie Chaplin, who will bring you song, dance, laughter and love. The duration is one hour and 30 minutes. For more information, contact www.esplanade.com

Movies under the North Star

Date: 29 December 2012 at 7.30pm – 9.30pm Location: Tampines North Tampines Street 43, between Blocks 481 and 482

It’s time to get romantic! Taking place ev-ery last Saturday of the month, the next ‘Movies under the North Stat’ will be held on December 29. Interested people can grab a picnic baskets & mats, take your date or family and head down to the cosy neighbourhood of Tampines North and enjoy a night out watching popular mov-ies under the Northern Star.For more information, visit www.whatshappenning.sg

On 13 October 2012, approximately 140 Scandinavians in Singapore gathered at the Danish Seaman’s Church to enjoy

the performance by Danish Folk rock musician and singer-songwriter Allan Olsen. The evening featured good food, cozy atmo-sphere around a delicious Greek buffet. Alone on the stage with his guitar, Allan Olsen took the audience on a journey back to Denmark (perhaps mainly the Jutland part that most Danes know so well). It was a nice warm evening where participants enjoyed good food and good music in a relaxing atmosphere.

KU DÉ TA has lifted up the profile of ladies night in Singapore to a whole new level with their Diamond Life theme event on 19

September 2012. KU DÉ TA is where some of the most glam-orous events are held. Its club lounge is all about luxury, high fashion, lifestyle and glamour. Ladies night takes place here every Wednesday. However, it was extra special on Wednesday 19 November where Danish Georg Jensen took part and invited approximately 100 VIPs of its own existing clients to this exclusive event. The ladies were treated to a night of free flow Lychee Martinis in a private VIP area of KU DÉ TA and had the chance to take home an iconic Vivianna Oval diamond watch – the lucky winner was Ms. Peiyi Nguee.

Allan Olsen performs atDanish Church in Singapore

Ladies Night with Georg Jensen

8 ScandAsia.Singapore • December 2012

Past Events

Mr. Ingemar Dolfe, the Swedish ambassador to Singapore, has re-cently hosted a BBQ-evening at the Swedish Residence for over 100 Singaporeans who are former exchange students to Sweden.

During the BBQ-evening, the enthusiastic students shared their positive experiences from their stay in Sweden. The ambassador pointed out that Singaporean students’ knowledge and relationship to Sweden contribute to strengthening the close ties between the two countries. The ambassador also informed the students that the Embassy recently created a database for Sweden Alumni called ‘Swedish Alumni Database Singapore’. The database provides an opportunity for Singaporean students studying in Sweden, including past and future, to maintain a close link to Sweden. The purpose of the database is to create a network for Swedish Alumni in Singapore. Every year close to 400 Singaporeans go to different universities all over Sweden on exchange programs to study various subjects, ranging from medicine to business. Sweden is, after UK, the most popular destination in Europe for Singa-porean exchange students. The Embassy also provided the students with information about Swedish companies operating in Singapore, employing more than 7,000 people. The students showed a great interest in the pres-ence of Swedish companies in Singapore.

The Norwegian Business Association in Singapore invited Norwe-gian Ambassador to Singapore H.E. Tormod C. Endresen to their Luncheon on 8 November 2012 at Raffles Hotel, East India Room.

The ambassador held an interesting talk on the topic “China under new leadership – choices and consequences”. The Luncheon gathered 75 guests, the highest recorded number of attendees. Prior to his post in Singapore, Mr. Endressen was Consul General in Guangzhou, China. Previously, he served at Norway’s Mission to the United Nations in New York, in the Foreign Minister’s Secretariat and as Deputy Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo. A lawyer by education, he has also worked at Wiersholm law firm in Oslo.

Student reception at the Swedish residence

Norwegian ambassador talks on ‘China under new leadership’


Past Events

It was wonderful to see how many found their way to the Danish Christmas Bazaar at the Danish

Seamen’s Church on 24 November 2012. Danish families and friends gathered to celebrate Christmas in a traditional Danish Christmas style together. Danish food and various activities were available for partici-pants to enjoy. Over two days more than 1,500 visitors showed up. Thanks to the many visitors and more than 50 dedicated volunteers, this year’s ba-zaar was a great success and another milestone was reached.

Danish Christmas Bazaar


Past Events


News Brief

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide vis-

ited Singapore in No-vember. During his visit, he met with his Singapor-ean counterpart K Shan-mugam on 7 November 2012 to affirm the two nations’ strong bonds. Singapore and Nor-way have reaffirmed bi-lateral ties and the close cooperation shared be-tween the two countries, reports ChannelNewsA-sia.com. Both countries have good cooperation in areas such as politics, economy and the maritime sectors. The Singapore Foreign Ministry said the two min-isters welcomed opportu-nities to further explore bilateral collaboration. They exchanged views and discussed de-velopments in Europe, Asia and ASEAN. The ministers also talked about leadership transi-tion in China and the US presidential election.

Bomanbridge Media Singapore introduces Angel’s Gate, the world’s first transmedia business reality format, to Finland. The Singaporean company has signed a deal with Finland’s lead-

ing crossmedia production company Intervisio for Angel’s Gate, a business reality format that combines a television program with crowd funding and possibility to obtain venture capital. Leveraging Intervisio’s speciality of combining cross-media platforms such as TV, online and mobile communities, Bomanbridge will introduce Angel’s Gate to Finland where the production is expected to begin in early 2013.

Singapore and Norwayaffirmbilateralties

Singaporean transmedia business reality format sold to Finland


News Brief

Innovative eyewear company Digby Duke expands into Asia Pacific with the first online shopping site in Singapore. Less than a year since it appeared on the international retail eyewear

landscape, Digby Duke Eyewear has increased its international footprint by opening an online store in Singapore. “Singaporeans are real connoisseurs when it comes to eyewear so we hope they will also fall in love with Digby Duke’s modern, feather light glasses with thin high index lenses,” said Norena Jansen, CEO and co-founder of Digby Duke. The orders, together with the eye-prescription details, are sent directly from the Digby Duke website to its optical lab, where the glasses are assem-bled and inspected for quality before they are shipped directly to customers. Digby Duke, which designs and distributes eyewear frames and pre-scription glasses, has offices in Norway and the US.

Mr. Anders Borg, the Swedish Minister of Finance, visited Singapore in October. During the one-day visit, he met with Singapore’s Deputy Minister and Minister of Finance Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam

and representatives from Singapore’s finance sector to discuss the economic situation in Singapore, Asia and Europe. Swedish Minister Anders Borg had fruitful discussions on a wide range of issues with Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. The strong and close bilateral relations in many areas were highlighted. Singapore is Sweden’s largest export market in Southeast Asia, and most Swedish companies use Singapore as a regional hub. The program also consisted of meetings with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the East Asian Institute, and representatives from the banking and financial sector in Singapore. In the evening, the Swedish Ambassador Inge-mar Dolfe hosted a dinner for Finance Minister Anders Borg at the Swedish Residence.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is increasing its flight frequencies between Singapore and Copenhagen from three to five times weekly from March 31 next year, reports Business Traveller.

According to SIA, it can do this now because the joint venture it agreed with SAS, signed in May this year, has been given final regulatory approval. “We have wanted to increase services to Scandinavia for some time and our partnership with SAS enables us to do this,” said Nicholas Ionides, vice president of public affairs at SIA. “There is good demand for both business class and economy class travel on the Singapore to Copenhagen route.” Ionides added that both Singapore and Copenhagen served as hubs for onward connections, as well as point-to-point travel destinations. Several airlines have sought to develop Scandinavian cities as hubs for flights to and from Asia because flying over the top of the globe provides shorter travelling times. In October JAL announced it was starting flights to Helsinki next year in order to offer shorter trips to major cities in Europe. Ionides added that the airline would also explore new routes be-tween Scandinavia and Singapore subject to market conditions.

Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg visits Singapore

Norwegian eyewear Digby Duke opens online store in Singapore

SIA to increase weekly flights to Copenhagen


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Minister of State for Social and Family Development, Halimah Yacob, spoke about her recent trip to Finland and Sweden to the media on the sidelines of a community in Jurong on 11 November 2012.

She highlighted the preschool education system in both countries. She said that both childcare and education are delivered in a holistic and child-centric way in both countries, and she noted that the preschools focus a great deal on play while integrating concepts like numeracy, literacy and ethics. “Some insights are really useful. For instance, the transition from pre-school to compulsory education in both countries starts at the age of seven. The transition is quite smooth in the sense that there is a lot of coordination between curriculums of the preschool and the primary school. “In Finland, in order to ensure that transition, the preschool education for six-year-old preschoolers is located in primary school itself. “But although it is located in the primary school, in the case of Sweden, the people who teach the six-year-olds are still the preschool teachers. But they are in the school because they want the kids to get the feel that they are transitioning from preschool education to compulsory education. That I think is a useful concept, a really useful idea in terms of how you can en-hance the quality of preschool education.”

On 5 November 2012, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien-Loong on the sideline of the Asem summit in Laos.

“Meeting with Asian leaders is even more important in time of crisis,” says the Danish Prime Minister. “Asia has growth while Europe is in reces-sion and that makes the discussions between Asia and Europe more impor-tant than ever.” “Europe and Asia need closer relationships to exploit the economic possibilities,” she adds.

Danish Prime Ministermeets Singaporean colleague

Singapore’s minister calls Nordic preschool a useful concept

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Swedish learning institute within leadership, innovation and digital media “Hyper Island” has recently opened in Singapore.

By Maria Rita SkogPhotos by Daniel Persson, Flowpix pte Ltd.

Swedish learning institute Hyper Island, successfully held its first ‘Open Day’ on Saturday 17 November 2012, after opening the

Singapore Campus in October. After being nicknamed the “digital Harvard”, Managing Director Christina Andersson says the journey towards the opening has been successful since getting the offices this year. “We’re here because this region is bubbling with creativity and an en-trepreneurial spirit, and that is exactly what the Hyper Island is all about,” she says. According to Andersson, Hyper Island has come to understand the benefits of Singapore’s location, its educational infrastructure, its talent and collective aspiration to achieve its full potential, whether as an indi-vidual, industry, city or nation. Hyper Island is also in Singapore to learn from this culture and its

market place to truly understand the profound societal changes across Asia. Applications are being made online and potential future students call and email Hyper Island frequently, wanting to know about the programs. “We will start with our Special-ist Diploma Interactive Art Director program in March next year. It is one of our most popular programs run-ning in Stockholm,” says Andersson. After its big open day on the November 17, over a hundred visi-tors showed interest in Hyper Island. The Next Open Day will be SaturdayJanuary 12. “We had one of our App Mak-ers Cafe events running throughout the event to show people how we do things instead of just telling them about it. We like people to experi-ence Hyper Island” says Andersson. She informs ScandAsia that the students applying to Hyper Island are mainly between 20 and 35 years



old, with a passion for innovation and creativity and who really wish to excel in the communications industry. “We look for potential in every-one who applies. People will ideally be very self-motivated go-getting; who really want to understand digital and what it means for individuals and the whole of society,” says Andersson.

The SwedishnessFounded in Sweden in 1996, Hyper Island started off with one campus in Karlskrona, and has since grown internationally the last 17 years. Following Karlskrona, Hyper Island is today located in Stockholm, Manchester, New York and now Singapore. “We are very proud of our Swedish heritage. So much that we actually say we are a Swedish global company. It runs through everything that we do, from the brand to the meth-

odology, to how we work together and with our students and clients, to how we set up the organisation. How we work together is rather a Swedish way compared with how Singaporean companies and schools are - we bring quite a Swedish mind-set to education and work culture,” says Andersson. Feedback given at the Open Day on November 17 showed that people are excited about Hyper Island’s opening in Singapore. They expressed that they have been waiting for something different in this educational space. “I think they are very interested in the different ways of learning. There are obviously some great universities but Hyper Island is here to offer something different,” says Andersson. The Swedish Higher Educational Institution in Singapore can also ben-efit the island’s workforce.

“We are catching the attention of employers and they cannot wait, they want to get our students even more. At the moment there is a lack of people with digital knowledge, hence why Hyper Island is here,” she says. Singapore is a destination known for its technology courses, design and business schools, but Andersson believes that Hyper Island operates differently. “Our methodology at Hyper Island is ‘learning by doing’. This means that our students work with live briefs from the industry and develop campaigns and ideas with advertising agencies and their clients” says Andersson.

Hyper Island 2013Hyper Island will start next year with their first Specialist Diploma Interactive Art Director program. The school also aims to launch two


master’s programs in digital and media management, both part-time and full-time. Hyper Island also plans to offer executives education and develop-ments within corporate organizations that work with business transforma-tion in a digital world. As an educational institution, Hyper Island focuses on industry needs, meaning that their programs adapt and change according to the developments in the commu-nications industry. By doing this, students are more likely to have knowledge that is relevant and up to date. Hyper Island creates intensive, short and long courses within ex-periential environments for both individuals and organisations. For industry professionals and those seeking a career change, Hyper Island will start its classes in March 2013 at its premises on Alexandra Road.

While most Scandinavian media had their eyes on the American presidential election, European and Asian leaders gathered in Vientiane in Laos for the 9th Asem Summit on 5 - 6 November 2012.

By Kim Birkkjaer LundSweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt

A new Convention Centre (ICC), funded by the Chinese government

Friendship, freedom and trade

For two days Vientiane, the otherwise relaxed capital of Laos, was hosting 11 head of states and 21 heads of government plus ministers,

ambassadors and representatives of the press from all parts of the world. The occasion was the 9th Asem summit. Daily life was put on hold, schools and businesses were closed, while conveys of limousines with police escorts drove through streets closed for other traffic. A new 24,900sqm Convention Centre (ICC), funded by the Chinese government with a price tag of 450 million Yang (USD 80 million), has been built for the summit. The Wat-tay International Airport has been enlarged and 50 luxury villas have been built on the riverbanks of Me-kong to accommodate the Asian and European leaders. 102 families have been moved to make space for the Lao and Chinese joint venture which has built the 50 villas as the first step in a USD 180-million plan expected to be completed by 2021.

wish to promote mutual ties after a six years hiatus (since the military coup in 2006) of high-level discus-sions. When meeting with Thein Sein, President of Myanmar, Katainen ex-pressed Finland’s interest in discuss-ing ways of enhancing cooperation, developing the activities of civil so-ciety and increasing democratic dia-logue in Myanmar. “Based on our own experi-ence, I underlined that inclusive and open education is a key element of a well-functioning, modern society respecting human rights,” said Prime Minister Katainen in Laos.

Internet freedomSweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt is a veteran in Asian – Eu-ropean cooperation. The 9th summit in Laos was Carl Bildt’s 5th Summit. Rather unconventional Bildt had chosen to make freedom of the inter-net to his main agenda at the summit. “Sweden raised the issue of in-ternet freedom and security. Inter-net freedom has received increas-ing attention and becoming a topic of discussion in a number of Asian countries. That’s why we believe it is important to put these issues on the agenda,” says Mr. Bildt Carl Bildt has previously men-tioned Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand as countries that have more or less elaborate restrictions to the freedom of and the freedom on the net and named China among the world leaders in the area of con-trolling and restricting the internet. Before Bildt left Vientiane he visited the Scandinavian Bakery and being a diligent twitter he posted a recommendation: “Next time you pass by Vientiane, don’t miss the Scandinavian Bakery!”

First Chinese - Norwegian contact in two yearsFor Norway and Stoltenberg the 9th Asem summit was a debut. In his speech at the opening ceremony, Stoltenberg praised Asia as a driv-ing force in global economy and underlined Norway’s confidence in the Asian economies by men-tion, that the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has invested about 80 billion US dollars in Asian equities and fixed income holdings. Stoltenberg used the summit to meet with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. A meeting which made headline in many media as it was the first official contact between China and Norway in two years. Norway has been put ice by China since the pro-democracy dissident Liu Xiao-bo was awarded with the Nobel Peace Price in 2010. Stoltenberg also met with the Philippine’s President Benigno S. Aquino. Aquino informed Stolten-berg of the recent signing of the 2012 Framework Agreement on

the Bangsamoro. They furthermore tackled the strengthening of bilateral maritime and labour cooperation. Stoltenberg also met with Ma-laysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and with Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. At the meeting with Najib, Stol-tenberg offered to deliver Norwegian missiles for Royal Malaysian Navy and to provide Malaysia with the latest technology in oil and gas drilling. The Thai Prime Minister and Stoltenberg talked about resum-ing the negotiation on a free trade agreement between EFTA (Nor-way, Iceland, Switzerland and Liech-tenstein) and Thailand.

Education key to modernsocietyThe Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Ka-tainen had two busy days in Vien-tiane. On the sideline he met with Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, South Korean Prime Min-ister Kim Hwang-sik, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Thein Sein, Presi-dent of Myanmar. South Korea and Finland signed a preliminary deal in May in Finland to expand cooperation in the nu-clear energy field and the two PMs used the occasion to discourse fur-ther cooperation. Dung and Katainen talked about strengthen the ties of friendship, trade and economic cooperation. Furthermore, they agreed to orga-nize activities to mark the 40th an-niversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Finland next year. The Thai Prime Minister Yin-gluck Shinawatra assured Katainen of Thailand’s political and economic stability. Both PMs expressed their


In an exclusive interview with ScandAsia the Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt tells about her visit to Myanmar and her agenda at the Asem summit.

By Kim Birkkjaer Lund

Interview with the Danish Prime Minister

What have been the main issue of your speeches at the summit?I have talked about education. I have been appointed as education Champion by the UN and believe that Asia and Europe jointly can do a lot to improve education. Then I have talked about econ-omy, especially green economy,

It’s quite natural for the Nordic countries to work together on a mission like this. We have discussed joint mission in the Nordic Council and agreed on more joint diplomatic missions. The Nordic countries have a lot in common and share views on many subject. We disagree on very few issues, so it makes sense to join with Norway on representation in Myanmar and if the Swedes want to join they will be very welcome as well.

Even Myanmar has made great progress towards democracy, there still are huge unsolved problems concerning human rights as the persecution of the Rohingyas. Do you intend to raise the Rohingya issue at the meeting with the Myanmar President?I have raised the issue when speak-ing with Myanmar’s ministers and also when speaking with Aung San Suu Kyi. It is an issue that concerns those I have talked with as well as it concerns us. We have to use dia-logue to constantly push the devel-opment of human rights, freedom of press and the protection of mi-norities.

Europe is hit by crisis and we want to develop our relations with Asia, which still has growth, but opposite China and to some degree Japan we also want to interfere with the way they govern their countries. Does our desire to interfere harm the Danish business community?No it doesn’t. Having educational and cultural relations as well as polit-ical dialogue and trade and business relation is all part of a circle where the various relationships strengthen the overall relationship. By having a wide variety of relationships with a country, it becomes much easier to explain our views.

where I drew the attention to the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF) which we established together with Korea, proving that just two coun-tries bilateral can create something that can have a huge impact on green economy. And finally I have talked about piracy. It is an issue where both Eu-rope and Asia have large interest.

Piracy impede our trading but most importantly it causes human disaster for the victims, so I have raised the issue as a theme of common interest.

You met with Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporean Prime Minister yesterday. What was the theme of your meeting?An increasing partnership and co-operation with Singapore. Both Singapore and Denmark are trading nations and maritime nations, so we have a lot in common and a lot we can achieve together. We recently signed a Memorandum of Under-standing (MOU) to cooperate on maritime issues with Singapore. I used the occasion to confirm that Denmark are dedicated to co-operation with Singapore and to tell that Denmark strongly supports a free trade agreement between Sin-gapore and EU and a agreement had priority in our presidency of the EU.

Later today you are meeting with Myanmar President U Thein Sein. What is the headline for the meeting?I visited Myanmar before going to the Asem summit, but we didn’t have time for meeting while I was in Myan-mar. Now fortunately we meet here. My message is simple: We recognize the political changes towards democ-racy in Myanmar and are prepared for next steep in our cooperation with Myanmar. Myanmar should know that they can count on Denmark and that we will be present in Myanmar. That’s why we have opened a small diplomatic mission in Myanmar and I visited the country two days ago being the first Danish Prime Minister to visit the country.

You inaugurated the mission together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg Sunday. Why did Denmark choose to open a joint mission with Norway?



Promoting Norwegian Seafood in Asia

Norwegian seafood - in particular salmon - has seen massive growth over many consecutive years. From Bali to Beijing, Norway is practically synonymous with seafood.

By Joakim Persson

Christian Chramer is since 2011 head of the Norwegian Seafood Council in South-East Asia, where the brand

is already well established. This job was previously a part time position within NSC but since it was turned into full time job, NSC has increased the budget for market development in this region from 2 million in 2012 to a total of 7 million NOK in 2013.” Christian will remain as the re-gional director for NSC in SEA until the summer of 2014.

Singapore is specialTo cover his area, Christian travels a lot within Asia, but is very happy with having Singapore as his home base. “It’s a fantastic place to be – for many reasons. In many ways it’s a hub – and very important for the food service sector. The tourism role in Singapore, with 13 million tourists coming into Singapore every year, of course gives this market a special flavour when it comes to how the food service sector is developing. So this is very much a showcase for how things can be developed in different markets in the future. That could be Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta or Taipei. “Singapore is special because here you have a strong food service sector, estimated to take up 70 per cent of the salmon coming to Singa-pore from Norway.”


Fresh seafood is the segment where we can make a difference

and supply the market while our competitors will have trouble doing the same.

“You have a tremendous growth in both fine dining, Japanese sushi and sashimi restaurants, international cui-sine being very strong here and also you see an influx from Singapore in the whole region when it comes to trends and also the way people work in professional kitchens. We see Singapore as a very important edu-cational platform – there are many strong chef schools in Singapore that educate for the whole region. So by working with young chefs we create seafood and salmon ambassadors for Norway for generations to come!” Norwegian Salmon exports to Asia show steady growth. The volume in October topped 12,000 tonnes of which 5000 tons were sold to Singapore. Marketing research is the most important thing NSC can do in Sin-gapore, according to Christian, and pushing salmon even higher up on the seafood ladder. That translates into working deeply together with major retailers like Cold Storage on promotions, PR, marketing and other activities to build the sales and long-term commitment to the consumers. Sushi and sashimi is also a strong trend in this region, just as through-out the world, where red salmon is often served. “Fresh seafood is the segment where we can make a difference and supply the market while our competitors will have trouble doing the same,” he says

Search for perfectionChristan Chramer has a background as an officer and information officer in the Norwegian army but he sees more similarities than differences when comparing his job in the army with his current job with NSC. “Especially the professional mind-set of people involved in the seafood industry remind me of my previous job in the army. I’m very proud to see how we all strive for perfection and want to do our very best.” “And seafood is so important to Norway as a country and Nor-wegians as a whole. I feel seafood is gaining attention in many areas of Norway’s public life and that

my colleagues in the company and the people of the industry are re-ally focusing on producing the best possible seafood for the large world community.” “We sell seafood to 150 differ-ent countries so we provide food to enormous amounts of people, which must be safe, healthy and fresh in many instances. And it must be made in the way people would like to have it and available when people would like to consume.” Social media and CSR are also among Christian’s professional in-terests. NSC effectively uses social media for, among other things, corporate communication (recently blogg.seafood.no was also launched) and issues management (it has been the driver in their internal, online Crisis wiki that allows communication in real time in one shared workspace across their 14 global locations.)

Sustainability efforts“As the world leader both in stan-dards, technology and volume it should not be surprising that aquacul-ture in Norway is followed closely by both media, consumers and NGO’s/ENGO’s. In my opinion we address this in the way critical questions are best addressed: By openness, trans-parency and dialogue,” comments Christian. He says that NSC enjoys a very good and open dialogue with WWF Norway and other ENGO’s such as Bellona. “We have an on-going coopera-tion with WWF to meet on a regular basis to discuss any critical questions and to see how we can work harder to promote sustainable seafood and what we can do as in industry player. I sincerely believe that we are doing a fair share on that and will be doing even more in the future.” “Norwegian seafood farming practices and status is very transpar-ent with data on undesirables, use of antibiotics, escapes from sea farms etc. available to the all online.” Escapes from sea farms where down to 30 000 in 2012, which is the lowest figure ever compared to a peak of 921 000 in 2006.

Salmon lice and escapes are key environmental challenges, concerning issues of genetics, ecology and the risk of spreading disease, which has a negative impact on the industry’s image, according to the Norwegian Ministry Of Fisheries And Costal Af-fairs.

Good environmental conditions a preconditionNSC’s ‘Strategy for an Environmen-tally Sustainable Norwegian Aqua-culture Industry’ shows that Norway is taking these issues very seriously. This strategy forms the plan for many actions being taken, and future goals. In 2004, Norway became the first country in the world to introduce a scheme laying down requirements and a technical standard for aqua-culture (NYTEK) to ensure farm-ing conducted on environmentally responsible lines. Furthermore, in 2007 Norway decided to set up of a total of 52 national salmon watercourses and 29 national salmon fjords, with stricter regimes for aquaculture to be applied for the sake of the wild salmon. Such areas enjoy special protection under the Aquaculture Act. The greatest potential for growth is in the farming of salmon, cod and shellfish and where eco-friendly, sustainable production is a precondi-tion for long-term development and growth, according to the ministry. It also points to a self-interest form the fish farmers in maintaining good water quality and avoiding any nega-tive impact on their surroundings: The aquaculture industry depends on good environmental conditions and water quality. Norway has depended on a combination of strict health regula-tions, close safety monitoring and continuous work to develop the industry, writes NSC. While in the past, there were concerns about aquaculture’s impact on the environment advancements have eliminated many of those ob-jections. For example, every farm must be licensed and operated in an environmentally appropriate location.

Also, use of antibiotics is no longer an issue whereas 15 years ago it was widespread, according to Christian. “It is something that sticks to the industry as a perception of salmon. We give all the small juvenile fishes a vaccine against all the known diseases that it can catch throughout the life cycle.” “The volumes have grown sub-stantially at the same time as the use of antibiotics are reduced by 99 % from the levels of 1987,” Christian comments the latest figure (a total of 905 kilos) from the Norwegian veterinarian institute.

Certification and greenconcessionsThe continued success of the Norwegian seafood industry is de-pendent on meeting and exceeding international food-safety demands. So Norway also has the highest number of third party eco certifi-cations via KRAV, Friends of The Sea, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) etc. The NSC runs a programme and works with partners to transform the world’s seafood markets and promote sustainable fishing practices. “We have to be present on many different arenas but we are very strong on eco certification and I really believe that it is part of the position-ing that we will see for seafood from Norway,” says Christian. Global standards for aquaculture are also in the pipeline where Nor-wegian companies have been closely involved in the process. For organic salmon production there are already several companies in Norway selling organic labelled fish. Norway’s government has re-cently also proposed the allocation of 45 new green salmon concessions in 2013 of which 35 means switching to the new green version. This is a very positive signal about continuous development in the right direction regarding the production of the world’s best seafood prod-ucts under the strictest aquaculture legislation in the world,” comments Christian.


Jan Lund in the centre of AsiaThe list seems endless when Danish journalist Jan Lund explains why he chose to settle in Singapore.

By Kim Birkkjaer Lund

“They don’t have the same ide-ological inhibitions as we have in the western world. The fact that they are able to change perspective, if the development requires it, makes it possible for them react much fast-er than we in the Western world are able to.”

No new stupid governmentJan describes the development of Singapore as a society constantly moving forward and planning its de-velopment decades ahead. “Singapore has moved from providing basic needs as food and clothes for its citizens, to work and infrastructure and is now investing massively in culture. It is that energy and drive I finds amazing and unique for Asia. I love it. It gives such a kick to everyday life.” He believes that it is the political stability that has made Singapore’s long-term planning possible. There has been no risk that “a new stupid government” suddenly would get elected and change the planning. Since the independence in 1965 People’s Action Party (PAP) has ruled Singapore. That’s 47 years in power. But times are maybe chang-ing. At last election PAP “only” got 60 percent of the votes. “The government perceived the result as a huge defeat and it raised much soul-searching in PAP, which saw the result as a sign, that they had not paid enough attention to the people and listened to its wishes.”

Asia-lightAlthough Jan is much more com-fortable in Singapore than he is at home, he considers himself a Dane not a Singaporean. “I am an expat. That puts some limitations on how integrated I can be. I am a member of the local crick-et club and I sometimes pop down to watch the Singaporean football teams play, but I can’t vote or take part in politics.” He is an active part of the Dan-ish community in Singapore. He is vice-president in Danish Business Association of Singapore, member of the local VL-group (Danish manage-ment network) and representative of Danes worldwide in Singapore. “Danes worldwide is not as important here as it is for example in Tokyo. Everything is very easy in Singapore. You might call Singapore Asia-light. But if some Danes need help to settle I don’t mind helping.”

The private Jan LundDespite Jan’s career and travelling, he has been able to have a family

Jan LundBorn 1949

1969 Journalist trainee at Vestkysten1972 Graduated as Journalist 1973 Went to India on the hippie trail over land 1976 Sport journalist at Ritzau1983 Awarded sport journalist of the year1984 Sport journalist at Berlingske1987 Sport journalist at Jyllandsposten (JP)1992 Culture journalist at JP1994 Foreign correspondent New York JP

“To me Singapore is the centre of Asia. All cul-tures are rep-resented here;

its centre of economics; some very exciting think tanks are based here; Changi Airport gives easy access to all Asian cities; Singapore has a spe-cial knowledge based on everything that takes place not just in the region but globally; the weather is nice 30 degrees every day of the year; every-body speaks English and it is a global city. I love global cities. Note I have worked in New York, Tokyo, New Delhi and London. I feel at home in global cities.” The list seems endless when Jan Lund is asked why he chose Singa-pore as his new home. It is quite obvious that he loves the vibrant life of Singapore. At the age of 57 Jan decided to quit his job as foreign editor at Jyllands-Posten, the largest newspaper in Denmark, and moved to Singapore to be self-employed waving goodbye to fixed wages and safety net. “I had being an employed per-son for 35 years and had to face that I was becoming an elderly gent with maybe only 10 years left as journal-ist. So if I wanted to try something else, it had to be before the wheel-chair suddenly appeared next to me as the proper means of transport.”

Asia makes senseJan had been back in Denmark for little less than three years, when he decided to move to Singapore. Be-fore his return to Denmark, he had been foreign correspondent for ten years, seven of them in Asia, and he felt disconnected from the world at his editor desk. He realized he was losing his basic knowledge of what is going on in the world and losing his global network The dynamics and pragma-tism in Asia are two subjects that Jan keeps returning to when telling about his love for Asia. A favourite example is Singapore’s way to tackle the crisis in 2008. According to Singapore law, a state budget with a deficit is only possible if the government obtains the President’s approval, other-wise it is illegal for the government to spend more money than they have. When the crisis hit, Singapore decided, even before Lehmann Brothers went bankrupt, to launch a number of major programs to mitigate the impact of the looming crisis, resulting in first and so far only presidential approved deficit in Sin-gapore’s history.


and be a father. He has a lovely wife and grown up kids back home in Denmark, he tells. They have been with him at some of his postings. It has depend-ed on the circumstances. His approach to family is the same as to any other issue in his life: You have to be flexible, pragmatic. If things aren’t going your way, then move, try something else. And if the family isn’t happy being where Jan has chosen to be, it is better to find a solution that pleases everyone, even if the consequence is that the family lives separated.

You need to invent to surviveJan doesn’t consider himself a jour-nalist anymore. He doesn’t write regular news articles. He writes a weekly column for Jyllands Posten and columns for the Danish Embas-sy’s newsletter. Actually he does all kinds of media work. He produces books and magazines and recently he became stringer for Deutsche Presseagentur. Occasionally he also gets assignments from firms and he gives lectures both in Asia and back home in Denmark. To survive as a self-employed, Jan believes, you constantly have to invent new initiatives. Dabs’ maga-zine Danbiz is one of his inventions. He suggested it to Dabs before he became a member of the board. Among other new initiatives he takes part in is the newsletter of the Danish Embassy. It was origi-nally established by Jørgen Ørstrøm Møller in 1997, when he was Danish Ambassador, but had subsequently been downsized and in danger of being shut down, when Jan decided to get involved. “You have to invent your own original media concept to survive. Media change all the time and you have to find those niches where you can make a living.”

A black hole societyPersonal responsibility is a key-word for Jan. That’s why being self-em-ployed in a society as the Singapor-ean suits him so well. “In Denmark no one has re-sponsibility for anything. Here you have to be in charge of everything yourself.” Personal responsibility doesn’t imply a society without solidarity, cohesion and common identity, Jan emphasizes. “In Denmark we have parked our responsibility, our independence, our obligations and our solidarity in a box named The State, and as a black hole everything disappears in that box.”


How do you celebrate

It is common for Nordic expats to have bad memories of their first Christmas in Asia. The special Christmas mood was not there. The calendar said 24 December,

but the temperature and everything screams anything but Christmas. As time goes, most find ways to adjust their Christmas expectations to Asia and actually create new Christ-mas mood triggers. ScandAsia has asked seven prom-inent Scandinavians living in Asia how they plan to celebrate Christmas this year - and how they usually celebrate Christmas in Asia. Enjoy the reading. “God Jul!”

ScandAsia has asked seven prominent Scandinavians living in Asia how they plan to celebrate Christmas this year - and how they usually celebrate Christmas in Asia.

Axel Blom and his wife “Jak” will on Christ-mas Eve be on a plane on their way back from a meeting in Oslo. “It is not our dream solution,” Axel Blom admits. “But this year, it just cannot be helped.” Axel Blom, who is President of the Thai-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce and long- time resident of Thailand, usually alternates between celebrating Christmas in Bangkok or in Scandinavia, which means ei-ther Norway or Denmark. “When in Bangkok, we always celebrate Christmas Eve with a dinner with some friends. I am myself in charge of the roast crispy pork with brown potatos,” says Axel. “I know it is more Danish than Norwe-gian, but lutefisk is not my taste,” he laughs. “Every year, we also always buy a real Christmas tree from Villa Supermarket. The smell is so good. This year, we will check to see, what kind of trees IKEA will be selling. I want to see if the quality will be the same.” he says.

His Excellency Mr. Tormod Cappelen Endresen, the new Norwegian Ambassador to Singapore, is looking forward to celebrating his first and rather unusual Christmas in Singapore. “I have spent a different way of celebrating Christmas whilst serving the military service. And what I like about a different celebration is that they are often the ones you remember the most. This year will also be an extra nice one as we are having family and friends visiting the town. In fact we are having about 15 guests from Norway coming down to Singapore for Christmas.” When asked about missing the traditional Norwegian Christmas preparations, Mr. Endresen said that there are many Norwegian com-munity’s activities in Singapore. “There is the Julebasar at the Seamen’s Church and also Julebord (Christmas Parties) at this time of the year to attend. Pinnekjøtt is on the Christmas Eve menu for this year as we will be having it at the Norwegian Seamen’s Church. It will be nice with the Asian twist to it and I am looking forward to it,” said Mr. Endresen

Christmas in Asia?

Multicultural Christmas – Divide and Conquer

Christmas in the air

First Christmas in Singapore

Christian Overgaard is Chairman of Danish Chamber of Commerce in China (DCCC) Shanghai & SVP and Global Head of Heat Exchanger Business Danfoss. He has been living in Asia for over 10 years. He tells ScandAsia that he initially held home country Christ-mas family values and went to Denmark with his Chi-nese wife and two children. However, over the years, they now prefer the big family tour over summer in Denmark since the weather is better for them. Christian says that his wife’s family originates from the South of China and therefore gravitates towards Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai. “We have been several times to the theme parks “Splendid China” and “Window of the world” in

Shenzhen among family friends. Other years in be-tween, we spend Christmas in Bali, Singapore, and so on,” he says. Christian’s daughter likes the Danish Christmas tradition and food, so last year she went with him while his wife, son (he prefers Chinese food) and parents-in-law went to a Zhuhai Spa place for re-laxing time with grandmother. “In China, Christmas planning always combines with Spring Festival planning - and lately also skiing planning for our family,” he says. This year they will again ‘divide and conquer’ due to his busy work schedule, but they will start the festive season with some family skiing in No-vember/December. “For Christmas, my wife will go to the ancestral town of Chao Zhou with children and parents-in-law for a week before I join them in Hong Kong. We have many friends in Hong Kong and like the Disney Land which is not too big for children aged 6-8 years,” says Christian. “Finally, for a family like ours Hong Kong always reminds us of the place where “East blends with West” in true yin-yang style - and that has prob-ably become part of our multi-cultural Christmas values!” he adds.


Erik Dahlström, Regional Ac-counts Manager with Asian Tigers Transpo International Ltd. based in Bangkok gets into Christmas mood when cook-ing Christmas dinner with his friends from Sweden. “Our friends come out here a few weeks around Christmas every year. They have their own place, so they don’t stay with us, but on Christmas Eve they will typically come over quite early in the afternoon and then we start cooking together,” Erik says. The dinner is quite early, starting around 4 - 5 o’clock. Erik and his wife Nujeen have three children and the young-est is only four so it is better to start early. “After dinner one of us... I mean, when its dark, we all have to wait for Santa Claus to come out here all the way to Bangkok,” he quickly corrects himself. Christmas in the Dahlström home typically comes complete with a Christmas tree. Usually a plastic tree but maybe it will be a real tree this year.

Emilie and Peter Hjortsoe moved to Hanoi in 2010 looking for new adven-tures away from home. Emilie Hjortsoe just started her own management consulting business this summer and she is looking forward to a quiet and calm Christmas with her husband Peter and 15-month old son Arthur. “Last year we went to Phu Quoc Island, but this year we are focusing on essential quality time in the family at home here in Hanoi”. Emilie Hjort-soe loves Hanoi around Christmas time, it’s a cosy and quiet time, she says. “Going to Denmark for Christmas can be rather rushed at times, this year we are looking for peace and time for a tranquil Christmas with the family, and that is what matters.” It remains to be seen if their Vietnamese oven can make for a happy Christmas duck to go with a Vietnamese inspired cabbage salad. “I am thinking some orange juice and nuts in a cold fresh cabbage salad this year,” she contemplates. The presents from family back in Denmark have already arrived and a wonderful plastic Christmas tree is ready for decorations. “I made Calendar presents for our son to open every day, they will be some decorations in there for the tree and we also got plenty of Danish nougat and marzipan for making confetti, it will be a first for our son – so we are going for the gold medal this year in confetti making”, she says laughing.

Snow will be central this year for the Ranta family. After five years in Singapore and two years in Hong Kong, the two sons Anselm, 9 and Amos, 7 are eager to get some experience with snow. Since there is hardly any guarantee for a white Christmas in their home town in southern Finland, they prefer to spend a few days skiing in Japan instead. A couple of years ago the family went skiing in Niseko, on Japan’s northern island, Hokkaido, but this year they plan to visit the small and cozy hot spring village Nozawa Onsen in Nagano. They go right after Christmas and spend New Year in Winterland. Christmas itself will however be celebrated at home in Singa-pore, together with good friends. “I think it is definitely possible to get into the right Christmas feeling here in Singapore,” says Helinä. She wants to make sure that the Christmas tree is up and ready by the Finnish Independence day, December 6. At 12 noon on De-cember 24, Christmas peace is officially announced, and the Ranta’s try to have everything ready by then so they can relax and enjoy traditional food and drinks together.

Ziegler, President Danish Business Association Singapore, celebrates a tra-ditional Danish Christmas together with Children, ex-wife and Henrik’s mother, who comes visiting from Denmark. The Ziegler’s family has no trouble getting into the Christmas spirit in the heat of Singapore. The whole packet of Danish Christmas traditions secures the right spirit. “We have a totally traditional Danish Christmas dinner with Roast pork, duck, rice à l’impératrice and with a gift to the one who gets the whole almond hidden in the rice à l’impératrice. We dance around the Christmas tree and sing all the traditional Christmas carols. It is as traditional as it gets,” Henrik Ziegler tells.

Vietnamese inspired Danish

Christmas home in Hanoi White New Year in Asia

Cooking up Christmas mood

Traditional Danish family Christmas in Singapore


Let’s make Christmas HeartsChristmas is a time where children and grown ups should join around the dinner table to play with paper and glue in preparation of the upcoming celebrations.

By Gregers Moller

Christmas Hearts as we know them to-day goes back to the world famous Dan-ish author H.C. An-

dersen. It was he who made the very first heart which later in 1871 became a template of a Christmas heart. In Denmark a particular day has been announced “Christmas Heart Day” - the 23rd December - where we should all cut and weave our hearts together.

Hearts are easy!First you need to buy some glossy gift wrapping paper or other similar paper with different colour. If it has the size of A4, fold it down to A5 and fold it again down to A6. Cut it along the fold to A6 and you will have paper for one heart. But it will be the same colour. Therefore you have to do the same with an A4

sheet of different colour. Now you can make two hearts. Place a cup or glass at the not-folded edge and draw a half circle that you can cut after. Next, mark a line 4 cm from the opposite edge, the folded edge. Slice the hearts up in four strips from the folded edge and up to your line. Now you are ready to start weaving them together. Carefully insert the folded edge of one strip between the ‘loop’ of the other. The strip that just went between now goes around. It can not be over and under(!), it has to be around and between. Now start on the next strip. Do the opposite of last time: around, then between so you make a check pattern. Continue until all strips are woven. Once you get the hang of it, you can make unlimited number of variations.

This woven Christmas heart is the believed to be produced by the author H.C. Andersen in 1860 or 1862 and is

the World’s first Christmas heart.

together!


A piece of Scandinavia in SingaporeA trip to Scandinavian Shoppe may well be one of your most successful and convenient shopping rounds from now on. In mid-October this year, Scandinavian Shoppe has moved from South Buona Vista to Block 38 in an HBD estate in Telok Blangah Rise just off Lower Delta Road.

By Ulrika Forssel

With the relocation of Scandinavian Shoppe, you may come home more often with many

longed for food items such as Danish cheese with lots of flavours, herring pickled in mustard, the fiery candy known as Turkish Pepper or the beloved Norwegian brown cheese. The new location of Scandinavian Shoppe boasts a wet market, a few hardware stores, a pet shop and a hawker centre where you can have lunch after all your shopping is done. It is also very accessible both by car and by public transport, and there are plenty of parking lots.

at the sign pointing to blocks 37-43 is just behind the shop. For residents of Sentosa, the shop can be reached in just a few minutes. At present, the vast majority of the products in the shop are from Denmark since it is the country of origin of the shop owner. They would like to cater as much to the other Scandinavians as well and are look-ing for possibilities to import popu-lar Swedish and Norwegian items. The shop owners Mel and Michael Thøgersen have passed the respon-sibility of running the business on to Mel’s mother Bernadette Misson since they moved back to Denmark. Bernadette spends some time in Denmark researching the food industry and local customs. She often brings back to Singapore new ideas and knowledge about what Scandi-navians want to buy. Shipments arrive regularly at Scandinavian Shoppe. On a monthly basis an air shipment full of delicious cheese, herring and other fresh products will fill up the shelves in the store. For dry products such as crisp bread, flour mixes, sauce mixes and candy, as well as preserves such as red cabbage and red beets, there is a large shipment by boat every quarter.

The festive seasons like Christmas and Easter, when demand surges, are taken into account. This is where you can come and stock up on herring and snaps for the holidays. The best and most immediate way to find out about customer needs is of course to ask the regulars and to listen to their wishes. Shop assistant Cathy has an open com-munication with customers and will consider special requests as far as it is possible by their present means. Cathy has started the shop’s Facebook account to promote a dynamic way of communications. She urges everybody to click ‘like’ and join in the conversation. Here you can find out about new shipments and special events going on in and around Scandinavian Shoppe.

Opening hours: Monday to Friday: 10.00 a.m. - 07.00 p.m. Saturday and public holiday: 09.00a.m. - 06:00a.m. The shop is closed on Sunday.

For more information, contact +65 6476 2575

Block 38 is right in the centre of the estate and there is a food court just in front of the shop. Renovation work was being done to the food court and the pavement around it when I visited, but it was almost done already, and the final result will be a very pleasant, typical Singaporean hangout. The friendly and cheerful shop assistant Cathy tells me that the location was chosen for its convenience and proximity to where many Scandinavians, especially Danish, live. It is a short bus ride on bus 65 or 855 from Harbourfront, and if you come from the city centre you can take either bus 143 from Newton or 65 from Orchard area. If you come by car, the first parking lot as you turn in


Rice Porridge (Risengrød)

Evil

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When you have completed the above puzzles, please send your solution by fax to +66 2 943 7169 or scan and email to [email protected]. We will make a lucky draw among the correct

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Name: ___________________________________________________

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Deadline for submitting your solution is 15 January 2013

Medium

By Gregers Moller

Ingredients:• 1 liter milk • ½ tsp salt• 110 gram rice (1 1/4 dl) (round grains preferrably)Cinnamon sugar mix:• Mix 4 tablespoons of sugar with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder.Almond:• Raw almond with brown shell on (or raw, white cashew nut).

Risengrød. It is simply not Christmas without it! I serve it for all our employees in ScandMedia at our year end party every year and they have come to expect it - although not really like it, I suspect. What

they do like, though, is the hidden almond in the porridge and the gift that comes with finding it in your portion!

I usually boil up the rice in plain water as the problem is that the milk may easily burn. When the water has boiled a few minutes, I pour in the milk and let it boil while stirring. Then I take it off the burner and pack it in my bed with a few blankets around it and leave it there for a few hours. At the same time I put an unpeeled almond in hot water.

Before serving it, I bring it back on the stove and heat it up while stirring constantly. If it is too thick, I add extra milk. This is when you put in the white almond - the shell will by now be so weak that you can rub it off with your fingers - or one year I used a white, un-roasted cashew nut.

It is served in noodle bowls. Sprinkle it on top with the cinnamon sugar. Some like a lump of butter in the middle. Whoever finds the almond in their portion wins a gift, that you must have prepared in advance.

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